Music Mural, the right hand panel

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History part 6, basic design of the second canvas is sketched out at long last

So many interruptions have slowed progress on this mural but this is not a bad thing, it is just my life..
Now that I have selected the images for the mural and they are sketched in with paint on both seven metre canvases there is a whole new ball game as they say in the U.S.
Yeah, now I have to make it work, as a whole, and I want it to look like music; to have colour, tone, harmony and rhythm.
How I achieve this I don't know but that is the goal and Thursday to Sunday is my next opportunity to get stuck in and go for it, wish me luck eh?

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History Part 5: the second canvas gets designed

Friday was a warm and bright, sunny Winter's day and I spent the morning making phone calls to sort out, and keep up with, stuff. Then I put on good clothes and walked up to town and got in some R & R, bit of shopping, couple a bevvies, home for tea and then out again for a few drinks with friends. Saturday was a big, vicious storm and the bamboo growing back of the studio smashed the edge of one of the studio roof's clear panels, the water leaking through this was blown inside by the fierce wind gusts but luckily blown clear over the canvas clipped up there and not blown far enough to hit the table and ruin all the drawings etc.
I love storms like that, they remind me of Wellington, where I grew up.
Saturday afternoon and night and Sunday afternoon and night I worked on the canvas in the cold draughty studio and now both canvases are ready for finishing - which will probably take two weeks.

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History Part 4: Images and Design Ideas hit the canvas at last

Tuesday 22 July 08: A mural comprised of some of my drawings and photos of musicians and the sheet music to a Ricky Lee Jones song begins to come together on a 7 metre by 1200 primed canvas.
The other 7 metre by 1200 primed canvas will have more of the same and the sheet music to a Warren Zevon song.
The mural panel shown here will be high up on the left interior wall of Marley's Music store and the other will be high up on the right.
I had no definite idea of how this would come together when I started Tuesday morning but it began to take on a life of it's own and I got a wonderful natural high and could not sleep until four in the morning Wednesday.

Marley's Mural

Marley has a music shop in Waihi, recently moved to a larger premises right on Waihi's main street, amongst the best cafe's and so on. Great location.
I like Marley's music shop. It's a great place to just be in and he has such a range of anything you may want in the music line. I am learning Spanish and have bought several CD's of Latin American music from him ( I am interested in travelling to Mecico and Chile)

Marley's new shop is in an old building with a very high stud. Above all the CD and album racks hang all the instruments, guitars of all kinds and violins banjos ukeleles etc. and above that is high bare wall running down both sides of the shop to the back.

I saw, and talked Marley into agreeing to buy, two canvases seven metres by twelve hundred covered with a rythmic montage of paintings of New Zealand musicians, all the paintings taken from my sketches of Muso's playing in pubs and cafes, of which I have many. Many.

The canvases will be simply stapled to the walls up there, one each side of the shop, and perhaps the edges covered with light wooden battens, not so much to frame them but to hide the edges and staples.

Now that I have finished and delivered my doll museum commission (see earlier post) Marley's mural is the current job.

It is Saturday morning and today I start this job, beginning with this written record of proceedings.

On Thursday Sandra came by to pick me up for company on her drive to Tauranga to Tanjis art shop and I rolled out my canvas stash and saw I had seven and a half metres so we called into Harvey's furnishing at Tauranga after we had spent up large at Tanjis and I bought another seven metres of canvas, sufficient now to do Marley's mural.

My next trick is to alter the studio to accommodate a seven metre painting on the wall. That will be today's first job after a shower and brekkie etc. Yes I am sitting here unwashed at the computer having a pre breakfast breakfast of coffee and cigarettes and Amy Winehouse live in Berlin is on the stereo. I'm happy....